Electronic devices comprising active organic materials are attracting increasing attention for use in devices such as organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic photoresponsive devices (in particular organic photovoltaic devices and organic photosensors), organic transistors and memory array devices. Devices comprising organic materials offer benefits such as low weight, low power consumption and flexibility. Moreover, use of soluble organic materials allows use of solution processing in device manufacture, for example inkjet printing or spin-coating.
An OLED may comprise a substrate carrying an anode, a cathode and one or more organic light-emitting layers between the anode and cathode.
Holes are injected into the device through the anode and electrons are injected through the cathode during operation of the device. Holes in the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and electrons in the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of a light-emitting material combine to form an exciton that releases its energy as light.
Within an OLED device, the light-emitting material may be used as a dopant within a light emitting layer. The light-emitting layer may comprise a semiconducting host material and the light-emitting dopant, and energy will be transferred from the host material to the light-emitting dopant. For example, J. Appl. Phys. 65, 3610, 1989 discloses a host material doped with a fluorescent light-emitting dopant (that is, a light-emitting material in which light is emitted via decay of a singlet exciton) and Appl. Phys. Lett., 2000, 77, 904 discloses a host material doped with a phosphorescent light emitting dopant (that is, a light-emitting material in which light is emitted via decay of a triplet exciton).
Emission from more than one layer of an OLED, in particular to achieve white light emission, is disclosed in, for example, WO 2008/131750, DE 102007020644 and EP1390962 and SPIE (2004), 5519, 42-47.
Suitable light-emitting materials include small molecule, polymeric and dendrimeric materials. Suitable light-emitting polymers include poly(arylene vinylenes) such as poly(p-phenylene vinylenes) and polyarylenes such as polyfluorenes.
WO 2011/064355 discloses a metal complex substituted with an organic charge-transporting group for transporting holes or electrons and for improving solubility of the complex in an organic solvent.
WO 2005/013386 discloses an electroluminescent device comprising a polymeric host containing certain triarylamine repeat units and a phosphorescent metal complex.
It is an object of the present invention to provide phosphorescent light-emitting materials which have an improved efficiency of emission and increased lifetime when used in devices containing one or more light-emitting layers.